Trump in court for second E. Jean Carroll sexual abuse trial
January 16, 2024
Donald Trump appeared in court in New York City on Tuesday for a hearing to decide how much more money he owes magazine writer E. Jean Carroll after he was found guilty of defaming her over sexual assault claims.
The former US president did not attend the first trial in May, but he showed up on Tuesday off the back of a landslide victory in the Republican primary caucuses in Iowa.
Trump arrived in a motorcade and entered the courthouse through a special entrance not usually used by the public.
What is the case about?
Carroll accused Trump of defaming her in 2019, after Trump denied that he sexually abused her in a dressing room of a Manhattan department store in 1996.
Trump has claimed that he never met Carroll and accused her of fabricating the story to sell her memoir.
In May 2023, a jury found that Trump did assault Carroll in 1996. He was ordered to pay her $5 million (€4.6 million) in damages for that incident.
However, the jury also found that Carroll did not prove that Trump raped her. Sexual abuse and rape have different definitions under New York law.
The trial was a civil defamation case, not a criminal case.
At the hearing on Tuesday, a different jury will decide how much more Trump must pay Carroll for his defamatory comments that denied her sexual abuse claims.
Trump is set to appeal the previous verdict and the $5 million penalty, and he could also appeal any other verdict coming from Tuesday's trial.
Trump gagged on certain talking points
Judge Lewis A. Kaplan has banned Trump from discussing certain topics at the hearing on Tuesday.
He is not allowed to suggest that he did not rape Carroll, cannot discuss DNA evidence, and cannot talk about Carroll's sexual activity.
Trump is also not allowed to suggest that the Democratic Party is bankrolling the case for Carroll, who herself is a Democrat.
Trump previously branded Kaplan, an appointee of former Democratic President Bill Clinton who has spent 29 years on the bench, as a "terrible, biased, irrationally angry Clinton-appointed judge."
On Tuesday , however, Trump continued to attack Carroll on his Truth Social platform as he reposted a clip from an interview she gave to CNN and wrote, "Can you believe I have to defend myself against this woman's fake story?!"
Later in the day, Trump also spoke at a rally of supporters in New Hampshire, which is set to hold the nation's second presidential nomination contest next week.
He said that he planned to attend daily court proceedings in the "phony" case in New York over the next several days, while continuing his campaign.
"Early in the morning I go to a Biden witch hunt," Trump said.
"And then I come here in the afternoon, and I stop, we make speeches and we get the votes."
zc,dvv/ab (AP, Reuters)